Monday 11 June 2018

Onshore wind ‘could deliver £1.6bn of savings to UK’

Building more onshore wind farms between 2019 and 2025 could help save consumers around £1.6 billion on their energy bills.

That’s according to a new study, supported by ScottishPower Renewables, innogy, Statkraft and Vattenfall, which considers five new Contracts for Difference (CfD) auctions, each with a maximum capacity of 1GW.

It states onshore costs are projected to fall below government forecasts for the wholesale electricity price from 2023 and would therefore provide a net benefit for UK consumers.

The report by BVG Associates adds a commitment to the five auctions would support around 18,000 construction jobs, with 8,500 people employed in long term skills jobs once projects are operational.

Most of the capacity (86%) would be built in Scotland, followed by 12% in Wales and less than 2% in England, made up of small scale projects.

It suggests government support for onshore wind projects in the five auctions would stimulate supply chain investment, with the biggest opportunities in fabricating towers and blades, part refurbishment and the development of UK installation teams.

Lindsay McQuade, CEO of ScottishPower Renewables said: “Onshore wind is the cheapest form of new build electricity generation available in the UK today and statistics show that it is supported by over three-quarters of the British public.

“The government can benefit form cheap, green and clean energy to deliver the Industrial Strategy and Clean Growth Plan by supporting onshore wind as well.”

BEIS told ELN it would not be commenting on the report.